THE RUNDOWN WACO, Texas – Linsey Hays took the 10th pitch of her at bat in the bottom of the seventh inning over the rightfield wall at Getterman Stadium Saturday afternoon to give No. 14 Baylor a 2-1, walk-off win over Kansas. The Lady Bears (35-12, 8-4) ensured a series win over the Jayhawks (29-18, 3-8) and have won four straight against Big 12 competition.

The home run was Hays’ eight home run of the season, and it came off Kansas ace Kelsey Kessler who had given up just three hits before the game-ending blow. Kessler fell to 17-11 on the season and finished with 6.1 innings pitched, four hits, two runs and three strikeouts in the complete-game defeat.

Baylor struck first in the second inning when Hays doubled down the leftfield line scoring Sarah Smith to give the Lady Bears a 1-0 lead. Kansas knotted the score in the top of the fifth when Liz Paul loaded the bases and allowed an RBI single from Chaley Brickey for KU. However, Whitney Canion came in relief of Paul, inherited the bases loaded with no outs, and struck out the side to keep the score tied.

Kansas threatened again when Canion allowed back-to-back walks with one out in the seventh followed by a fielding error that loaded the bases. However, once again, the senior ace struck out a pair to leave the bases stranded, which set the table for Hays’ heroics.

Hays’ homer gave Canion her second win in as many nights as she improved to 21-9. Baylor will honor Canion, Paul, Holly Holl and Clare Hosack on senior day Sunday to close the series with Kansas.

HIGHLIGHTS

Linsey Hays’ run-scoring double and home run in the seventh gave her nine multi-RBI games on the season,which tied her for the team lead with Clare Hosack.

Hays’ home run was the eight of the season for her and the 14th of her career.

Hays’ multi-hit game was the 11th of the season for the redshirt sophomore.

Linsey Cargill’s double in the fifth was her first extra-base hit since April 1 vs. Lamar.

Kaitlyn Thumann and Ari Hawkins’ hit streaks were snapped at nine and eight games respectively. However, Thumann kept her on-base streak going and the streak is now at 12 games.

Whitney Canion picked up her 21st win of the season and 113th of her career Saturday.

Baylor had been 1-5 in televised broadcasts this season before Saturday’s win on Fox Sports Network and Fox Sports Southwest.

STAT OF THE GAME I11 – Kansas left 11 runners on base, six of which were bases-loaded situations in which Whitney Canion was able to leave the Jayhawks stranded.

THEY SAID ITGlenn Moore on Baylor’s performance“Kansas brought it today and it was a great ball game for both sides. I thought Kessler had good stuff today, they had a great pitch scheme on their side. But, I thought it was great for Linsey, she needed that game, and I feel like we got the TV monkey off our back.”